Go Faster

It's inevitable if you are training regularly. Sooner or later, usually sooner, you reach a plateau in your performance. Weeks or months go by with no change in speed or endurance. Workouts become humdrum and "comfortable". There is only one way out of this rut. Something has to change. The easiest thing to change is the speed. Somewhere in your workout something has to go faster. It's that simple. To go faster, go faster.

This happens with elite athletes, too. Don't feel bad about it, especially if you are working out alone, being your own coach. The major difference is that those athletes usually work under the watchful eye of an experienced coach. Coaches of elite athletes are constantly on the lookout for opportunities to progress and tend to constantly ask for just that little bit more to consolidate gains or to make the next leap in performance. Even at that these athletes experience plateaus for as many reasons as there are athletes. It is not unusual and neither is the solution to the problem, usually.

If you are on a self-directed program spotting the problem, admitting it to yourself and fixing it are a little more difficult. That doesn't mean it is an insurmountable problem. It does however require a different mindset from you, the athlete. It may benefit from discussion with other experienced athletes. It may require sharing on a site like this or having a cooperative coach or more experienced athlete "have a look". You could even get creative and film yourself for analysis. This is really an opportunity to have some fun.

The thing to keep in mind is that there is help everywhere, even if it's self-help. Technology today makes it an exercise in imagination. The biggest problem, once there is an effort to get help, is that there is often too much information. Learn the basic technical principles underlying your activity. Make sure the solutions you adopt are in line with what you know. Try to ask questions that take sound technique into account. Listen with a technically attuned ear. Look for solutions that will work for you.

Some of what you hear will not be for you. It may be too advanced, not advanced enough or just plain hokum. Learn the proper mechanics for what you are doing and the basic principles of physical conditioning (lots of information available). Make sure what you adopt is "real world stuff". Unfortunately, there is lots of misinformation out there, too.

If you can't sort out what should work for you get advice from people who should know. You could always come someplace like this where someone with some experience and qualifications can help you sort the wheat from the chaff. Good hunting.

Moving is Life-building

Your body was made to move. It was made to move in a certain way that favoured survival over the millenia human beings have been around. We can push, pull, lift and employ tools in ways that most other animals couldn't even dream about, if they dream at all. But most of all we were made to move over large distances, longer and farther than our natural predators and food animals. Furthermore our brain development is inextricably tied to doing just those things.

Modern life has produced situations where the natural order of things has been violated. There are many life situations where activity of this sort is lacking or distorted by being narrowly focused and repetitive. Division of labour was a great idea but it had side-effects. Both situations produce their own type of damage, but damage there is and it gets worse as time goes on. The human body being what it is, it is rarely too late to get things back on the right track and begin the healing and growth process all over again. If you have been sufficiently active enough to have suffered little damage so far, all the better.

So what does one actually have to do? Well, walking would be a great start. Recently finished studies have found that simple walking, for an hour or more three times a week develops and tones muscles, helps keep the cardiovascular system from deteriorating and contributes to maintaining good brain function at all stages of life. Of course there are lots of other activities that provide the same or better benefits in less time and sometimes with more enjoyment depending on your need for motivation and entertainment.

I mean, think of the possiblities that involve run, push, pull, lift or any combination of them in vigorous repetitive activity. Ad machines like bicycles and the possibilities are endless and may involve things as simple as junk or work around the yard as equipment. Whatever works for you. The important thing is to get started and keep it up. Contrary to urban legends, it doesn't have to hurt. If it hurts too much it probably won't be something you are still doing a month from now. To start, it just has to raise your heart rate and keep you moving long enough to reap the benefits, usually about three hours per week. Break it up into as many shorter periods as you like to better fit your lifestyle.

What's holding you down?

Ultimate Fitness

Ultimate Fitness is by definition a provocative phrase. It conjures up all manner of extreme images of people participating in extreme sports scenarios or training to the nth degree. Rather it means quite literally, how fit does one ultimately have to be to do what one wishes to do? It requires some personal evaluation. If you want to be fit enough to sit on the couch and watch endless movies or sitcoms, what do you need to do? Well, probably nothing in that case. However, if you want to know what you must do to pursue a specific physical activity at a certain level, then that has an entirely different "To Do" list.

Even with the couch scene you will have to decide how alert you want to be after hours on-screen. Is weight control a consideration? If you want to be fit enough to shovel snow for an hour at the end of a long work day without being "done" for the rest of the day, you will have to be more ambitious physically. If you want to move more you have to move more. There are lots of people who are crushed mentally just considering such a life event at the end of the work day who could be described as basically unfit for the life they lead. What your life demands of you is the life you lead.

Anything beyond sitting on the couch will demand a certain activity level to achieve without strain on a daily basis. Exercise is indispensible. Accept it. You are going to have to move regularly if you want to move occasionally without doing yourself in. You can run but you can't hide from that one (no pun intended). What do you do every day or, at least, several times a week to contribute to the physical reserves required to meet the daily challenges in your life? If the answer is nothing, then you are courting long-term disaster. You won't be young forever and when you're not your lack of activity will catch you up.

If the spring in your step has sprung or if you have day left at the end of your personal resources it is time to rethink and revamp your personal care program. Today's lifestyle demands some extra. If you are into heavy labour as an occupation you may be alright, but otherwise you are kidding yourself if you think you can avoid the "exercise" scene. Find what works for you, be it walking or mountain climbing, and get moving.